Report August 2021
During August the Pareturn Columbus European MidCap Equity Fund rose by 3.23%, surpassing the 1.99% return of the STOXX 600 index. Over the past six months the Fund has risen by 18.7%, and by 33.2% over the past 12 months. Since inception in June 2008, Columbus’ return has been 171.1%, comfortably exceeding the broad European equity index.
August is typically a slower month in Europe with activity levels reduced as much of the region takes a summer break. The surge in cases of the Delta variant in Europe and the associated travel restrictions likely reduced activity even more than normal during the month, although the successful vaccination programs thankfully kept hospitalisations well below prior levels. After the very strong industrial production growth through the spring and early summer it was not a surprise to see this number come down somewhat in August. The more forward-looking Composite Purchasing Manager’s Index also fell back from the high in July but remained comfortably in expansionary territory. The initial snap-back of the economy appears to be normalising again and as usual stock valuations led this process with many now trading well above pre-covid prices. As a result, stock selection is likely to be a bigger factor in outperformance over the coming year.
Following the take-over of Akka Technologies in July your portfolio benefitted from a second take-over in August; Zooplus, the German listed pet products online retailer. This was again the largest contributor to performance over the month after private equity group, Hellman & Friedman entered into an agreement with the company at a 40% premium to the prior closing price. However, the story has not ended there and a confirmed rival bidder, EQT, has entered the process at an as yet undisclosed level. Zooplus did not provide the only significant positive contribution in August, however, as our long-standing holding in Interpump (+14.34% en agosto),Italian engineering group, also performed well on the back of strong results and an analyst upgrade.
There were no material detractors from performance although S&T, the Austrian industrial technology group drifted down on no news only to recover much of the fall in the first few days of September. We made no new additions to the fund nor complete sales during August. While we have a number of interesting names in the pipeline, we remain comfortable with the balance of the current portfolio.
Since June 14, 2018 both domestic and foreign investors have been able to access the Columbus strategy via the master-feeder structure between the Columbus 75 Sicav in Spain (feeder) and the Luxembourg registered Pareturn GVC Gaesco Columbus European Midcap Equity Fund (master). The Luxembourg vehicle offers both institutional and retail share classes.
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We thank you for your trust and wish the best to you and your families during these uncertain times.
Since June 14, 2018 both domestic and foreign investors have been able to access the Columbus strategy via the master-feeder structure between the Columbus 75 Sicav in Spain (feeder) and the Luxembourg registered Pareturn GVC Gaesco Columbus European Midcap Equity Fund (master). The Luxembourg vehicle offers both institutional and retail share classes.
